Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

  • Flocking

    On, under, and around: Northern Cardinals, White-thoated Sparrows, a Fox Sparrow, and a Song Sparrow grab and glean the seeds of Platycladus orientalis.

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  • Raptor Wednesday

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  • Waxwings

    (In addition to field guides, we’re experiencing a renaissance of natural history writing. I’ve got my eye on Super Fly by Jonathan Balcombe)

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  • The Golden Age of Field Guides

    Coming next year: The Social Wasps of North America Princeton Field Guide to North American Spiders Let’s face it, birds, which are where I started, are ridiculously easy when compared to lichens, spiders, bees, beetles, flies (forget it), wasps, etc. And plants are a hell of a challenge. Oh, the chlorophyl crowd looks easy with…

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  • Bird, Aril

    You can keep this blog spreading by donating here.

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  • More Henslow, Please

    A bird unimpressed by people. As a vagrant rarity, this little creature has attracted crowds to the cemetery. But the bird just goes on patrolling the grass and the edges of the road, sometimes getting quite close to people. This has worried some observers: is the animal alright? A sparrow maven’s quote that the species…

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  • Henslow Sparrow

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  • Understory Oaks

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  • Raptor Wednesday

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  • Pecking

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